Presser mechanism for spring needle knitting machines



W M, A. o. A. KARLBERG f i, ZULME I PRESSER MECHANISM FOR SPRING NEEDLEKNITTING MACHINES Filed April 10, 1935 Patented May 19, 1936 PATE-NTOFFICE PBESSER MECHANISM FR SPRING NEEDLE KNITTING MACHINES Axel 0. A.Karlberg, Franklin, N. H., assignor to Sulloway Page Company, Frankll'n, N. H., a

corporation of New Hampshire Application April 10, 1933, -Serial No.665,325

` 1 Claim.

l tuck at certain times, various patterns may .be

formed in the knitted fabric. For satisfactory stitching, it lisnecessary that the spring of the needle -b'e pressed while the needletravels a suiiicientV distance to ensure that the loop will be 151castioff. Furthermore, the pressure fon the spring during this periodshould be uniform. Insufficient pressure fails to close the hook of theneedle. Excessive pressure is liable to injure the needie, or at leastto shorten its period of use- 20. fulness.` It is an object of theinvention to provide mechanism for pressing the springs uniformlythrough fasufficient distance of travel of the needle, but withoutundesirable rubbing kas tion on the `spring as by a fixed cam.

According to the invention I provide a series of jacks or presserelements each movable to engage the spring of `a needle as it `cornesalong, the spring-engaging portion of the jack traveling along with theneedle for a sufficient distance toensure the casting .off of the loop.The motion of the needle-engaging `portion of the jack is such as tofollow the travel :movement of the needle so thatduring the entireperiod of engagement, the end of the jack presses uniformly against thelspring of a .needle to hold the hook of `the needle closed. The jacks.may be conveniently mounted in a Vrotatable disc having radial slots inwhich the jacks may slide, the sliding movement of the jacks beingcontrolled by suitable :cams .as .hereinafter described. If the slots inthe discs are so spaced as to line up successively with successiveneedles in the operation of the knitting machine, a complete set ofoperative jacks in the slots will result in plain knit $5 ting in whichall the needles stitch uniformly.

By removing certain jacks so as to leave vacant some of the slots in thedisc, various patterns may be knit since the needles coming opposite theempty slots will tuck instead of stitching.

Instead' of leaving certain of the slots vacant,

mechanism may be provided, according to the invention, for renderingpredetermined jacks inoperativeor operative, as desired, the remaining55 jacks being always operative, so that the machine may change `:fromplain to pattern knitting vor vice versa during operation.

For a more complete disclosure of the invention, reference may be had tothe following "description thereof, and to the drawing, of Vvwhich 5`Figure 1 is an elevation vof a portion Yof a knitting machine includingan embodiment of the invention, portions being broken away to showworking parts in section.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a slotted disk 10 and a driving -geartherefor.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a perspective View of three :springjacks having butts ofdifferent lengths.

Figure 5 is `a fragmentary section on the line 13 5-5 of Figure 1.

.A portion of a knitting machine is illustrated in Figure `1, mostly insection, this machine being of the ribb'er type having twosets ofneedles for rib knitting. As shownon the drawing, a presser 20 mechanismembodying the invention is employed for pressing the springs or beardsof the upper set `of needles corresponding to the `dial needles on adial machine. `In the yparticular machine illustrated `on the drawing,an upper Iconical 25 member 20 `supports a set of spring needles 2i. Aloweruconicalmember 22 supports a `set of needles 23. The springs ofeither or both sets of needles may be pressed by mechanism embodying thepresent invention. As illustrated, the needles -of 30 the upper set areprovided wi-th such a mechanism. This mechanism comprises a disc .30rotatably mounted on a fixed shaft 3i. The disc may be driven by anysuitable means; As shown,

a gear wheel 32 is mounted on a common hub 35 with the disc so as torotate therewith. The teeth of the gear Wheel 32 are adapted to meshwith the .needles 23 so Aas to be driven thereby. This ensures therotation vof the disc 30 instep with the needle-holdingmembers 20 and22. .As V4.0 indicated in Figure 2, the disc 30 is provided on its upperface with a series of radial slots 35. These slots are adapted toreceive jacks 36 such as 'are illustrated in Figure 4 for frictionalsliding therein, the jacks being preferably made with spring tails toVensure proper frictional engagement in the slots.y `*Each jack may, ifdesired, have a nose 31 thicker than the stock of .the jackitself, thisnose being for the purpose of engaging the spring of a needle andpressing the spring to yclose 59 the hook of the needle at the righttime for casting `off the old loop so as to form a stitch. Each jack isprovided with a butt 38, 39 or 40, projecting upwardly therefrom. Abovethe disc 30 iS mounted a cam member `1H having cam elements 55 42, 43,and 44, which are engaged by the butts 40 of the jacks so as to controlthe radial movement of the several jacks as for swinging around the axisof the disc with the rotation of the disc 30. As is evident from Figures3 and 5, the jacks have no radial movement during the larger portion ofa revolution around the axis of the disc 30. When a jack `approaches theline of centers between the disc`30 and the needle holders 20 and 22,itv

is projected outwardly so as to engage the spring of a needle which isapproaching by reason of the movement of the needle holder 20. v'I'heguide edges of the cam elements 42, 43 vand 44 are so shaped that afterthe jack is projected outwardly to engage and press the spring ofone'ofthe needles 2|, it is thereupon retracted and again projected,these movements being at such a rate that its nose 31 follows the pathof motion of the needle against which it presses, so that during theperiod of engagement between the nose of a jackand the opposite needle2|, the pressure is uniform. Thus the jacks serve to holdthe springsOf-'lopposing needles in such a way as to close the springs of theseneedles eiiciently without excessively bending the upper portions of theneedles themselves. 'I'he cam surfaces of the members 42, 43and 44 arefurthermore so shaped as to hold the jacks in engagement with theiropposing needles during a suflicient distance of travel of the" needlestol ensure the proper casting off of the loops thereon. It is evidentthat if, as shown, the slotsv35 are so spaced in the disc 30 as to comeopposite to successive needles during the operation of the machine, andif all of these slots are occupied by operative jacks, then all of theneedles will be pressed as they reach the line of centers between thedsic and the needle-holding member 20 so that plain rib knitting willresult. Pattern knitting may easily be effected by removing selectedjacks from the disc 30, thus leaving some of the slots vacant. When, inthe operation of the machine, needles come opposite the empty slots ofthe discsV 30, the springs of these needles will not be pressed, so thatinstead of stitching these needles will tuck, thus forming a pattern inthe fabric in a, manner well known in the art. 'I'he cam member 42 ispreferably provided with a'suitable gate (not shown) by which jacks maybe easily inserted or removed. Thus any pattern of which the mechanismis capable may be readily formed by arranging the jacks accordingly.

l-It is often desirable to change from pattern knitting to plainknitting and vice versa in makingv a fabric. According to the invention,mechanism is provided for making these changes without interrupting theoperation of the machine. To this end, the jacks 36 may be providedrespectively with butts 38, 39 and 40 of three different heights,as-indicatedv in Figure 4. For cooperation with such butts, the cammember 44 is adapted for movement toward and away from the upper face ofthe disc 30, as indicated in Figure 1. To this` end, the cam member 44may be provided with a stem 55 about which is a spring 5| tendingtopress the cam `member 44 toward the disc 30. The upper end of the stem50 may be forked to receive a controlling cam 52 extending through thefork beneath a pin 53. Thus the pin 53 rides on the upper edge of thecam bar 52. vThis upper edgeV has a low portion 54 so that when the baris drawn toward the left, the pin 53 rides down on the low portion 54,thus permitting the cam mem'ber`44 to approach sufficiently near to theface of the disc 30 to engage butts of any of the lengths shown inFigure 4. When the pin 53 rides on the upper surface of the bar 52, asshown in Figure l, the cam member 44 is retracted from the disc 30 sothat it operates only on the longest butts 40. If jacks having longbutts 40 or short butts 38 are arranged in the slots of the disc 30, itis evident that the long-butt jacks will be operative while theshort-butt jacks will be inoperative when the cam member 44 is lifted asshown in Figure 1. Thus with the parts in the positions shown, patternknitting results, the particular pattern depending upon the arrangementVof long and short-butt jacks on the disc 30. If

the bar 52 is retracted toward the left so that the cam member 44 takesa position in which both long and short butts are engaged thereby, thenall of the jacks become operative and plain knitting results. The shortbutts are preferably provided with two lengths, jacks having butts 38 ofthe'shorter length being employed in one half of the disc, jacks havingbutts 39 of intermediate length being employed in the other half of thedisc, jacks having long butts 40 being used where desired in both halvesof the disc. The purpose of ,the intermediate and short butts is toenable the cam member 44 to reach its operative .position for plainknitting when the bar 52 is retracted toward the left. When suchretraction of the bar 52 takes place, the spring 5| presses the cammember 44 toward, the disc 30.

It is evident that the inner portion 55 of thek memberr44 will ride onthe topsof the intermediate or short butts if jacks having such buttsare fairly well distributed about the disc 30. If

the downward progress of the cam member 44 35 happens to be arrestedfirst by butts of intermediate length, the half of the disc containingthese butts will have passed the cam member 44 before the completion ofa half revolution of the disc.l The member 44. can then descend to thelevel of the tops of the shortest butts, since in this succeeding halfof the disc there are no butts of intermediate height. Within the nexthalf revolution of the disc, the intermediate butts are againencountered, but at this time the member 44, having descended to thetops of the shortest butts, now operates on the butts of intermediatelength so as to guide them outwardly together with the long butts. Asthe .half disc which contains jacks with butts of intermediate heighthas none of the short butts, the member 44 can then descend to itslowermost position whereupon it thereafter operates on all the jacksincluding those having the shortest butts. I vr'Ihe presserV mechanismmay be mounted on a movable bracket 60 slidably mounted in a pair ofears 6| and 62 of a stationary bracket 65. An adjustable stop 66 may beprovided to regulate the proximity of the presser mechanism to theneedles 2| and 23, aspring 61 being employed to press the pressermechanism toward the needles. It is .evident that various modicationsand changes may be made in the particular embodiment of the inventionherein described and illustrated on the drawing without departing fromthe spirit or scope thereof as defined by the following claim.

I claim:

In a circular knitting machine having a vcirclilar series of springneedles, a pattern-forming mechanism comprising a rotatable disk havingradial slots in the face thereof and presenting its edge to the needlecircle, jacks slidable in said slots, each said jack having thereon alongyintermediate or short butt, jacks with long butts occupyingselected slots in said disk according to the pattern desired in thefabric to be knitted, the remaining slots being occupied by jacks withintermediate or short butts, a cam member movable toward and from theplane of the -disk between an outer position in which it is in the pathof and engageable by the long butts only and an inner position in Whichit is in the path of and 1o engageable by al1 said butts, means operableto move said cam member to its outer position, and spring meansresiliently pressing said cam member towards its inner position, thejacks with the intermediate and short butts being arranged so that thejacks with intermediate butts are 1ocated only in one half of the diskand jacks with short butts are located only in the other half of thedisk, as and for the purpose described.

